Trying to be a photographer

I've been playing around with our camera and settings and effects and having a lot of fun. These are by no means professional quality but I had fun doing them. I love taking pictures of my sweet girls. They are so cute. You might have seen them on my facebook page. I'm posting them both places.

I darkened this one around the edges and washed out the color because she was crying and I was trying to imitate her emotion. Life is so tough as a baby.

I love her expressions. Priceless

I really love this one. I softened it a lot. She looks so peaceful.

It looks like the same as above but it's not. This is one of my favorites.

This is my absolute favorite picture I have taken yet!

She is so sweet. She was so patient with me the whole time.

Little chubbers

And of course some of Evie

Love the color of this wall. I want to experiment with it a little more.

I washed this one out a bit. But I love her sweet face in it.

Okay I can't take credit for this one. My mom took it. But I still think it's a beautiful picture.

Evie's Prayer

Recently I asked Evie to say prayer and this is how it went:

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for everything. I love my mommy. I love my daddy. I think I love my sissy.... she's still new. Please help my daddy to come home from his boat because he's gone all the time and I miss him.

Amen"

Audrey Audrey Audrey!!!!!

Well after 39 weeks and 5 days of waiting for our sweet little girl she finally came!! Born on August 1 at 1:58 AM weighing 8 lbs 7 oz. (yeah I know she was a big one!) and measuring 21 and a half inches. Although we had thought she was coming a lot sooner, I made Nick fly home from Bahrain a week early because I thought he was going to miss the birth only to wait 3 more weeks for her to show up, she was definitely worth the wait though! I told my mom that she was just waiting for grandma to get here because my water broke 3 hours after my mom and Courtney arrived. It was the fastest, easiest delivery possible! Only 2 1/2 hours from the time my water broke until she was born and we barely made it to the delivery room!! But it was beautiful and I was able to do it all natural which is what I had wanted. My mom and Courtney stayed a week with us and I wished they could've stayed longer. They were such a big help!! My mom cooked and cleaned and shopped and Courtney took care of Evie so that me and Nick could adjust to having another baby in the house. The time has passed all to quickly and I can't believe Audrey is already 2 weeks old!! Evie is adjusting really well to her baby sister. No jealousy yet.....We're all just in love and so happy to just have her here.

Fresh out of the oven :-)

Tired Mommy and Audrey

First bath

Proud Big Sister

 

Bathtime!!!!!

Nick calls this her Hulk pose

Latest Going On......

Well, Evie and I got back from our trip to Utah at the end of April and we already want to go back. It was so nice to be around family. I sure do miss that and I know Evie does too. She's already told many dozens of times that she would like to go back to Utah. She especially misses her cousins Macie and Atlie who are the closet to her in age and she played with a lot while we were home. But we've been trying to keep busy since we've been here. Most of the time it just seems like a big waiting game....Waiting for baby to come......Waiting for Nick to come home.........Waiting to move into our new house. But we've managed to do a few fun things since we've been home. We went to the San Diego zoo again with one of Evie's best friends here named Alivia, we also went to Legoland on a bounce back pass that we had from when we went with Nick. It was a very bittersweet trip for me though because all day long Evie would say things like "Daddy would LOVE this ride mommy!" or "Daddy would like some ice cream like us" or "Daddy would be so mad if saw me get wet in the water (there was a splash park there :-) )" It was clear that she was missing her daddy a lot that day. I think mostly because last time we went there we went with him and they had a lot fun going on all the rides together. But she's been asking about him since we got home. For some reason she thought he would be home when we got back to San Diego and was really disappointed that he wasn't. But we've been able to talk to him on Skype a few times which is really fun for her. I also had my ultrasound for the problem with the umbilical cord and the doctor said the baby looked great. The thing they worry the most about is growth but she was a strong 2 pounds 14 ounces at 26 weeks!!! She's going to be a big one! But we're so excited to meet baby Aurora (I think that's the name we've decided on.) Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.

My Beautiful little girl!!! She's just getting so big so fast

There is a really funny story behind this picture. I was in the bathroom getting ready and Evie came up to me and said "Mommy you're going to be so mad at me." And I said "That's not really a good start to this conversation what did you do?" Then she jumped to the side and showed me that she gave herself a "tattoo" (hehe) When I asked her what it was she told me a "bat."

Evie and friend Aliva at the San Diego Zoo

Playing fairy dress-up

Legoland Race Track

Evie wanted to ride a camel "like daddy"

Zoo, Easter, and other stuff....

We had Courtney my sister at our house last week and we did all sorts of fun things including going to the San Diego Zoo. Then she helped me make the long drive back to Utah to visit for a few weeks to help pass the time while Nick is gone. I'm so lucky to have such a great sister!

Evie had an Easter egg hunt at her Tiny Tots preschool

My little diva

Evie's Easter basket

Dying eggs

Pink Eye!!!!

Today Evie woke up with a crusty disgusting red eye. I called the doctor and they scheduled me an appointment in the afternoon. While at the appointment the doctor prescribed some eye drops and said it was most likely pink eye...... Wonderful. Then she went on to say that I needed to give Evie some drops in her eyes 4 times a day for 5 days. No big deal right? Ha! That's what I thought. Silly me. I gave her some eye drops first thing when we got home and needless to say she didn't love it, but she did okay. But that was just the beginning. I needed to give her another dose before bed so I told her "okay Evie we have to do some eye drops before we read stories." I might as well have told her I was going to remove her eyes because she ran away screaming "NOOOOO!!!!!". After a ridiculous amount of time of having to chase her around the house I pretty much had to tackle her, lay her down on the bed, and pry open her eyelids just to put in 2 drops. And they want me to do this 4 times a day for 5 more days!!!!! Are you kidding me?! Wish me luck....

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Evie has been saying that it's a girl baby from the very beginning but I was convinced it was a boy because I wasn't sick at all and this has been such an easy pregnancy for me. But I guess that the Millers are just really good at making girls. At least we have a ton of little girl clothes!!!

Disneyland and More...

We had so much fun this last weekend. Nick's sister Emma and her friend Tanya came to visit us from Friday until Tuesday. Unfortunately the weather was pretty crappy all weekend but we still were able to do a few things. Saturday we went and saw the new Alice in Wonderland movie. Evie was so cute at the end of the movie she turned to me and said "that was a really cool movie mom." I love it when she says grown up things!!! So adorable. Then on Sunday for Nick's birthday we went to DISNEYLAND!!! It was supposed to rain all day but it turned out to be alright weather. It was fairly sunny in the morning and then in the late afternoon it got a little rainy but the lines were short and we got to see/do a lot. It was a really fun day, Evie got to meet Tinkerbell, Winnie the Pooh, Minnie and Mickey Mouse, and be in the conga line at the parade, and Nick got to go on Space and Splash Mountain. I made Evie go on the Pirates of the Caribean with me ride with me but she spent the entire time hiding in my jacket. Poor little thing, I've probably traumatized her for life. But she was very brave in the Haunted Mansion. We even stayed for the fireworks at the end of the night and Evie was actually awake!! I think she just wanted to see Tinkerbell fly across the sky. Monday was a hard day for all of us and we spent it just sitting around relaxing. We went to the beach for the sunset but it was very cold and so we didn't stay for long. We were sad to see Emma and Tanya go home. It was so nice having them here and Emma helped out with a lot. I felt like I was on vacation! Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

THE BEGINNING OF THE DAY...

EVIE MEETING TINKERBELL AND HER FAIRY FRIEND

EVIE AND WINNIE THE POOH

AT THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH :D

This is one of my favorite pictures...Look at Evie's face, this is around 5 in the afternoon and already you can just see the life draining out of her. Poor thing.

MINNIE AND EVIE

MICKEY MOUSE!!!

EMMA AND TANYA ON IT'S A SMALL WORLD

THE END OF THE NIGHT....

AT THE BEACH

TANYA COLLECTING SEA SHELLS

EVIE AND EMMA SPINNING AND DANCING